## ***YouTube Premiere: Faith, Fire, and Memory: The Portuguese Conversos of Ancona (1556)***## ***Sephardic World, November 2025***Join us this Sunday, 30 November 2025, for the YouTube premiere of this meeting. It starts at 11:00 a.m. Los Angeles, 2:00 p.m. New York, 7:00 p.m. London, 8:00 p.m. Paris/Amsterdam, 9:00 p.m. Jerusalem, and 6:00 a.m. (Monday) Sydney. This is the link: [[https://youtu.be/y1KeFtq76hU](https://youtu.be/y1KeFtq76hU?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHl4xGbUv1-zoSzgtFw0wGFOPugsHGIHHviCFLiOVA34kQ2fUQYyjVMim077q_aem_v1u7YCMVo89cQD7zQTWG9A)](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Fy1KeFtq76hU%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvAvNt7RbJ6c-6wZJ3U692jpZl6A2BROtSd7XQBWIjB8zGcupMOXy3uuiZOw_aem_pwimrQa6xwGXJw3vbss12g&h=AT0Qj18Rk6k51slIm5-S64IuTbjdI0JMAxweK3hqDw2AtpbP8Dk-NTHI46gPAmcUgvOvf_HasStesuLDIgnV7MZqwFaLcBbkebR__pXTKyfGQ_uM3Bt-ultxZfyArF87a1OY5Wn0xADVZ0AY9g&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)Please remember to Like, Subscribe and set a reminder!In 1556, twenty-four Portuguese conversos were burned at the stake in Ancona under Papal authority. This meeting traces their story and its aftermath, exploring how their martyrdom transformed the religious and political consciousness of the Sephardic diaspora and became a lasting symbol of endurance, faith, and protest.***Martina Mampieri***** **is Associate Professor of Early Modern Jewish History at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (since September 2025). Prior to this appointment, she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Modena. She holds a double Ph.D. from the University of Roma Tre and the University of Hamburg and has held postdoctoral and visiting positions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Göttingen. Her first book Living under the Evil Pope (Brill, 2020) examines a key sixteenth-century Hebrew chronicle. She is now working on her second monograph, a biography of the Polish-Jewish historian Isaiah Sonne, who lived in Italy under the Fascist regime.***Have you responded to the IAJGS’s survey?***The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies is again asking that people respond to their questionnaire about the future of international Jewish genealogy conferences. If you have ever attended or might consider attending, please spend five minutes answering them. This is the link.[[https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IAJGS_conference_planning_m](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FIAJGS_conference_planning_m%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHndme5c8fiYxalomcPQkaQXEqp5clupAHPNzLKdk3xVloLTnEJaK55clb2a5_aem_86k_plG9GWxejkVCo871ZA&h=AT2jfSijETmG7xPTh5xGd0MykVPiyD_ccWOR4IoanrPNqdlqDfSnXVAYkKD1CFh9ZxiW9ffmDLNhZ51a0X9WT-d9Er8ty2MWB-uzN-q4k6oZxL0yZ9DEhhaOi8nQoo9vHjRdB9dy0cbM0eZodw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surveymonkey.com%2Fr%2FIAJGS_conference_planning_m%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuEjx8J2a4LLjvOzp7ETQcifiU3kLtlf7G1ZdshOgIHH54xXGdFjVhqehFV7_aem_Pn6kZtk9xcwl030fblu0bQ&h=AT2jfSijETmG7xPTh5xGd0MykVPiyD_ccWOR4IoanrPNqdlqDfSnXVAYkKD1CFh9ZxiW9ffmDLNhZ51a0X9WT-d9Er8ty2MWB-uzN-q4k6oZxL0yZ9DEhhaOi8nQoo9vHjRdB9dy0cbM0eZodw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)This Society strongly support the idea of in-person IAJGS conferences. Meeting face-to-face is far more rewarding than spending long hours at an online event, and the Jewish genealogy community benefits from genuine personal contact.Several points have come up in our own internal discussion. First, current IAJGS conferences can feel weighted toward high-end hotels and packages that suit retired Americans, which may unintentionally exclude students, younger researchers, and those on tighter budgets. Equivalent events—such as Limmud conferences held in university accommodation—show that lower-cost models are possible, and some non-Jewish family-history communities (Irish, Germans, Greeks, and others) successfully include food, music, and family and cultural activities that draw in wider audiences.Sephardic content has often felt like an afterthought. At the London conference, for example, the few Sephardic sessions were double or triple-booked against one another, limiting participation.***hare your Family Story!***Every Sephardic family has a unique story to tell. Do you want to share yours? If you would like to speak but haven’t given a presentation before, we are happy to provide support and to practice with you. If you don’t want to talk for a full 45 minutes, we can have a series of shorter presentations. If you are very nervous about public speaking, we can pre-record. Our only requirement is that you have archival evidence to support what you say. Send us an email at society@sephardicgenealogy.com ***Please Support Our Work***We are terrible at self-promotion, but need your support! The Sephardic Genealogical Society is now the largest publisher of educational material in the Sephardic world — and we rely on your support to keep going.If you value our free lectures and wider work, please consider becoming a patron for as little as $5/month via our Patreon page. Your support directly funds new content, events, and research.We are also seeking major donors to help us expand key projects. If you are in a position to help, we would be pleased to hear from you.[[https://www.patreon.com/c/sephardi](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.patreon.com%2Fc%2Fsephardi%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvAvNt7RbJ6c-6wZJ3U692jpZl6A2BROtSd7XQBWIjB8zGcupMOXy3uuiZOw_aem_pwimrQa6xwGXJw3vbss12g&h=AT3lLyibLKF03HSdATpCVB3q0UJKavAjENmdcx6RM6mdYupv3qZuQszLSt1n9SWnL2iuidPFj0DzMXoendR3iN0QLsphkygkmfkPACmqFBhHTCQj8-M5fu0QwY1I4BgPX0UjHVuX4JyEC75TDw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.patreon.com%2Fc%2Fsephardi%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHl4xGbUv1-zoSzgtFw0wGFOPugsHGIHHviCFLiOVA34kQ2fUQYyjVMim077q_aem_v1u7YCMVo89cQD7zQTWG9A&h=AT3lLyibLKF03HSdATpCVB3q0UJKavAjENmdcx6RM6mdYupv3qZuQszLSt1n9SWnL2iuidPFj0DzMXoendR3iN0QLsphkygkmfkPACmqFBhHTCQj8-M5fu0QwY1I4BgPX0UjHVuX4JyEC75TDw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)***From the Sephardic Archives***A Journey through Curacao's Jewish History. In 2021 Ron Gomes Casseres gave a brief history of the Jewish community of the Caribbean island of Curaçao, the longest surviving Jewish community in the Americas.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjmL-1djVgQ](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsjmL-1djVgQ%26fbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvAvNt7RbJ6c-6wZJ3U692jpZl6A2BROtSd7XQBWIjB8zGcupMOXy3uuiZOw_aem_pwimrQa6xwGXJw3vbss12g&h=AT0rcldH_dA6eHXzQ0uNl-RVHwYZlbKX3ooae9rjDfG6CEReRvUXUeSaVuKudpCzLpPPm7-K_pJcmyvDZ9Yvm74wQoBrIEf57Hs36GqmZcVs6vGlN6fAzaRwDCltGxeZq3hjvsxGd1J_mKvK3Q&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsjmL-1djVgQ%26fbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHl4xGbUv1-zoSzgtFw0wGFOPugsHGIHHviCFLiOVA34kQ2fUQYyjVMim077q_aem_v1u7YCMVo89cQD7zQTWG9A&h=AT0rcldH_dA6eHXzQ0uNl-RVHwYZlbKX3ooae9rjDfG6CEReRvUXUeSaVuKudpCzLpPPm7-K_pJcmyvDZ9Yvm74wQoBrIEf57Hs36GqmZcVs6vGlN6fAzaRwDCltGxeZq3hjvsxGd1J_mKvK3Q&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT1AL02ogO82INsCkNUikuOej1TlTvCbysQzKPtegEQH0-FrhokvvALYi5TFxy4mmdObsKo0s193WF7YRkEBXML3QRGDAKa5N5tDKgOmMTlYY89OQ4Wt5hZfUKUoSyabT4SAdKqYKoxYgZq0RRm3S4N1sS6W8nA3wZddPpY6zD014L6bXd_69P8RtbaebkYzpsKvBLqX9UMUhJLQozoa_f12wOSP)Ron’s talk traced 370 years of Jewish life in Curaçao, from the first settlement in 1651 to the present, highlighting why the island is home to the oldest continuously functioning Jewish community in the Americas. The early arrivals—Sephardim from Amsterdam and some families coming indirectly from Brazil—built a community that remained fully Portuguese in ritual, language, and identity. Mikvé Israel, founded by the 1650s, became the central institution, receiving additional settlers in 1659 and again between 1697 and 1792 with financial support from Amsterdam. Curaçao’s Jews built six successive synagogues, culminating in the 1732 building still used today, and maintained extensive burial grounds, including the important Beth Haim cemetery.The community played a major economic role as shipbuilders, merchants, and intermediaries across the Caribbean, and Curaçao became, for a time, a regional centre of Sephardic commerce. Curaçaoan Jews also helped establish or support congregations across the Americas, including Newport, New York, Philadelphia, St Thomas, and Panama.Over the centuries, Curaçao developed both Orthodox and Reform Sephardic communities, which reunited in 1964 as the liberal congregation Mikvé Israel-Emanuel, preserving core Sephardic customs such as Portuguese prayers, Sephardic taʿamim, and the use of historic sefarim. The community’s cultural presence includes the famous sand-floored 1732 synagogue, the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum, and several historic cemeteries.The talk also reviewed the rich but scattered archival record: early material lies in Dutch archives, while 19th–20th-century records, ketubot, minute books, and memorial journals are housed in the state-of-the-art Mongui Maduro Library in Curaçao. Despite demographic decline, Curaçao remains a vital part of the wider Sephardic historical landscape.*Best wishes**Ton and David**Sephardic World**Image: 16th century Ancona *